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"Canada's mining giant Barrick Gold said Wednesday it has completed a planned 50-50 joint venture with an important Saudi Arabian miner to develop its copper mine in the country, a partnership the firm aims to replicate with other projects such as its halted Pascua Lama in South America."

GP Autoparts Limited, a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-listed industrial group Gold Peak Industries, announced that it will sell its 50% stake in Shanghai Jinting Automobile Harness Limited to Etern Group for RMB320M (US$50.8M). Shanghai Jinting Automobile Harness Limited produces wiring harnesses for both Chinese and international autos companies. In a statement released by Gold Peak Industries, the company cited increasing competition in the wiring harness sector, as well as the pending expiry of key long term contracts as reasons for the divestment.

"Conflict mining remains an important issue, and one we are beginning to see governments step in to address in different ways. With the global economy as interconnected as ever, it's important to note that many of the products and technologies we use in our daily lives begin at the same source: mines. With leading companies across industries such as electronics, retail and jewelry, auto manufacturing, lighting aerospace, construction, and other industries relying on these commonly used 3TG metals - tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold - implementing effective regulation is essential in order to further advance support to eliminate or reduce human rights violation."

\n\nNEW YORK - ITT Corp. handed in a 3% higher second-quarter profit Friday, with a weak dollar and strong overseas demand for its pump, valves and electronics systems shielding the company's bottom line from the economic downturn at home. During the quarter, ITT won a major contract to provide filtered seawater to Esperanza, a large new copper-gold mining project in Chile's Atacama Desert.

TOKYO - Nippon Mining & Metals Cob said it has developed a new technology that enables efficient recovery of copper and gold from low-grade copper concentrates. Nippon Mining will invest some 2.8 billion yen to build a pilot plant in Australia, in cooperation with major local mine operator Newcrest Mining Ltd.

NEW YORK, July 22 (Reuters) - Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc (FCX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Tuesday second-quarter profit fell 14 percent as output of the two metals dropped at its massive Grasberg mine in Indonesia.

Suspected Communist rebels attacked Xstrata Plc's $3 billion Tampakan mine in the Philippines, which may be Southeast Asia's largest untapped copper deposit, according to the military and project partner Indophil Resources NL. The group burned a drill rig and police are investigating, the Melbourne-based company said today in a statement to the Australian stock exchange. No one was injured in the assault, which took place around midnight on July 20, according to the statement, which did not identify the attackers. The rebels, probably from the New People's Army, ``tried to extort money from the owners of the mine, but they declined to pay the so-called revolutionary tax,'' Armand Rico, a military spokesman, said today by phone from Davao City. Insurgent attacks may undermine the Philippines' drive to develop the nation's mining industry to exploit gold, copper and nickel. Indophil, which also reported an attack on Jan. 1, is the subject of takeover bids from Xstrata Plc, which owns 62.5 percent of the mine, and a rival management group.

MOSCOW - In what would be one of the biggest mining deals in Russia this year, the metals tycoon Mikhail D. Prokhorov announced on Tuesday that he would sell 16.6 percent of the Arctic mining giant Norilsk Nickel to his former business partner, Vladimir O. Potanin. The two tycoons agreed last year to divide their holdings in Norilsk, a Russian factory founded by Stalin, whose value soared along with high commodity prices. Norilsk is the world's largest producer of nickel, a key alloy in stainless steel. Under the terms, as laid out in a statement from Mr. Prokhorov's investment company, Onexim, Mr. Potanin agreed to pay $10 billion for the 16.6 percent, in $6.5 billion cash and 35.2 percent of the shares in another mining company, Polyus Gold. The deal valued Norilsk Nickel at $315 a share, well above Monday's closing price of $216, and despite a recent drop in nickel prices, concerns of an economic slowdown and diminished demand for stainless steel.

Rocketing metal prices have prompted miners to seek out deposits in nearly all corners of the globe, but Canada's Nautilus Minerals is gunning to be the first to pull gold and copper from the ocean floor.

Australia`s competition regulator on Friday identified iron-ore as a potential major concern in evaluating mining giant BHP Billiton`s US$128 billion bid for rival Rio Tinto and said it would make a final ruling on the hostile takeover by October 1. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) devoted most of its nine-page "statement of issues" to the proposed deal`s likely impact on the iron ore trade and, in particular, on Australian steel-makers. Rio Tinto and BHPB are the world`s second and third largest iron-ore producers, respectively, behind Brazil`s Vale. But the ACCC saw no major competition issues surrounding trade in copper, gold, uranium, bauxite and alumina.

DENVER -- Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. said Wednesday it would suspend operations and lay off the bulk of its workers at a New Mexico mine, cut production estimates through 2010 and curb other costs as it struggles to cope with plummeting copper prices

Global miner Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX.N) said on Saturday it is considering delaying an expansion project aimed at extending the life of its El Abra joint venture with Chile's Coldelco.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., the world's largest publicly traded copper producer, said it may defer projects to conserve cash amid plunging metal prices and a freeze in credit markets.